The hippo and the tortise

NAIROBI (AFP) – A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa.

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, 2004 before wildlife rangers rescued him.

“It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a ‘mother’,” ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP.

“After it was swept and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together,” the ecologist added. “The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother,” Kahumbu added.

“The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years,” he explained.

This is a real story that shows that our differences don’t matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures. Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together.

Hippos kill an average of 8 humans every day. And they defecate all over themselves and each other. These disgusting pooping and killing monsters should be hunted to extinction. And giant tortoises are about as useless as Helen Keller.

I would like to say thank you to all the visitors that showed up to read this story, which I orginaly posted on this blog over a year ago. I thought it would have been old news by now, but apparently not everyone has heard about these two “creatures of God” (yes I must admit I believe in a higher power, but this is my blog and I can say that).

I would like to know where Matt came up with the “fact” that hippos kill an average 8 people a day. While he is looking for those statistics I suggest he look up how many hippos are killed each day by humans. As to defecating all over themselves go take a look at your local city dump and water treatment plant then come back and make a remark about how messy hippos are.

Great Photo’s whether they are ‘real’ or not, if someone can grasp the concept of compassion from them then that’s a good thing, as to Matt Moyer’s comments about Hippo’s killing 8 people a day….well Matt, if you had to deal with the shrinking size of your environment and all the natural threats found in it you might be aggressive to all ‘unknowns’ that cross your path. Yes Hippo’s can be aggressive and unpredictable but if you stay away from their habitat and them you won’t get hurt…

OK all of you people saying that hippos kill people every day, just shut the fuck up. there are way too many people in the world like 6.5 billion WhAT THE FUCK we have taken out every anamial in the world they are all down by at least 50%, so just shut the fuck up you foaggot that does not deserve to live almost none of us do.

That was a very good story, and surprisingly it happens quite a bit in the animal world. As for Matt there, i must say that your’re DEFINETLY right about killing hippos to extinction. I mean, if humans were getting killed by the HUNDREDS every day and only kill 8 back in self retaliation then we should DEFINITLY be killed. For those of u who still didnt get it I was being sarcastic. Anyways hippos kill because otherwise they would BE killed. Humans on the other hand, kill mostly for pleasure. So Matt, before u say something about hippos and how they should be extinct, turn on the news, read the newspapers, or simply look out the window too see that humans kill at LEAST 100 animals every day for their on confort. So before u decide to hunt all the hippos to extinction Matt, try hunting humans to extinction, and then see how u like it. Btw, if anyone else asks, the sniper who killed Matt was NOT me I SWEAR! or did I?

To short-sighted people like Troll and Matt: Have you ever considered how many thousands of humans are killed by HUMANS everyday? And why do some hippos kill people? Simply because people invade their territory and greedy people out for the bucks kill hippos. And are these hippos any dirtier than your filthy sex culture of licking filthy sexual and anal organs when they make “love”? It’s not animals like hippos who will drive humankind to extinction – greedy, short-sighted humans will.

This is an awesome story and it really shows the power of love and compassion. i agree with most, if we took this example and applied it to our lives we would all be so much better off. Hippos killing 8 people a day is nothing compared to how many people we kill on our own. Hippos kill for protection while we kill for sport, power, religion or just nonsense. I’ll take the blame for snipping Matt, it’s what I do.

This is so sweet! I’ve seen similar, but these pictures and the story are amazing.

To “Troll”: Hehe, your name does you justice. I got a laugh, at least! Anyways, humans are are sick, violent creatures that kill many people each year. Therefore, I think your sentence should say, ‘Hippos and humans are sick, violent creatures that kill many people each year.’ Yup yup.

I can't believe that I never heard this story and I can't imagine anyone not being touched by it either! What with all the horrific things that go on (mostly caused by Matt,Michael and the other ass) we need to see that love and friendship knows no boundaries. We are an increasingly calloused species (proven in the words of Matt,Michael and the other ass). Don't go there you might not make it back (like Matt,Michael and the other ass)

But it’s also amazing how stupid we humans are. The comments made by Troll, Matt and Michael confirm that. Sorry if I confront it wrong (it’s not supposed confront violence with violence…), but for me it’s impossible avoid it with these little-brained people with so tight and small vision of life. It’s because of IDIOTS like these ones, that our planet is going straight to hell.

Why don’t we get the sniper method aside and we better poo on them? They deserve it…

Thanks Jan for these pictures, they show us a great lesson of life (and sorry if I got mad with my comment, but I’m sure you understand it perfectly)

Hippos are extremely aggressive creatures, and often attack humans without any provocation. Call Matt Moyer and Troll and whoever else a douchebag all you want, but they are right. Very dangerous creatures. Many African people who try to make a peaceful living by using rivers and must constantly be on guard from hippo attacks. You could be minding your own business and just crossing a river and a Hippo could attack your boat for no reason other than it simply wants to fuck you up.

To Matt and Troll…..
It is people like you who are destroying the world. You have no intelligence, no decency, no compassion. You are ignorant and foul-mouthed. I’d bet you are both animal abusers, hunters. Redneck morons to the end.
By the way, these pictures aren’t photo-shopped. There are many instances of different species of animals becoming friends and giving each other comfort.
I’ve been an animal rights advocate for many years. It is people like you, Matt and Troll, that makes our road so difficult. You are loathsome.

an animal is an animal. they are wild, yes. they can be killers, yes. but they are what they are: animals. their instinct is to protect themselves and that’s just what they do. and they don’t go around seeking people to kill like humans seek to kill animals for no reason sometimes. and sometimes, they show they have hearts bigger than a humans. on another note, this amazing story made my day.

To Jeff, I know you are trying to be funny and most people love a good joke once in awhile but give it a rest. If you decide to continue your dry humor I might just remove ALL of your comments and that is not like me – to remove comments. Just in case you are trying to fool me with different email addys, I also track IP’s.

Without saying anything about the idiots who posted idiotic comments (go figure) I can only say that adoption works, here’s proof even in the world of these two. I was adopted, happily so, and am grateful every time I see more proof that adoption works. No matter what the species. Even for the idiots (who shall still remain nameless).

Bryan you forgot to check out the video of Owen’s new girl friend. The link is in the comment above from one of the writers for National Geo.

Ole, but who or what put the evolution into motion? Even scientists will tell you that the DNA and cell biology is so mathematically perfect that it could have not been an accident. Your “correction” is not a correction but an opinion – yours.

@Matt M.: I dearly wish you are “hunted to extinction” sooner than I post this comment since you must be some dreadful species that mixed cruelty and hostility with the lack thinking ability into some disgusting cocktail. Probably, it has never crossed your mind that when a hippo kills a human it is not in her/his bed in a house in the middle of a town but, yes, in hippo’s habitat, where humans do not belong. It’s really touching how you care for people who are stupid enough to disturb other creatures’ habitat. You’d do the same if someone tried to throw you out of your apartment.

oh, and, BTW, if you are so great at statistics, go and check the list of causes of death and see where ‘killed by a hippo’ comes… my wild guess is uuum 23,786…

This is a heartwarming picture story. Baby animals are as vulnerable as human babies and other species can pick up on when a tiny creature needs help, regardless of the species, like when the mother tiger nursed the little piglets to health. The natural intelligence of our fellow creatures on earth never fails to impress.

To all the morons, STFU! I have noticed a lot of people leave angry comments. Not just here, but al over the interwebs. I feel sorry for them and their angry little worlds. I used to work at a zoo, and I love stories like this, thank you.

Please give the negative comments the attention they deserve: none. There will always be people that are bitter, emotionally-stunted trolls with the warped need to project their poison into the world. Unlike the rest of us, they are condemned to always bear their own company. I can imagine no worse punishment.

These are amazing, amusing photos. Anyone who can’t see that aren’t worth worrying about.

I don’t think injecting your faith into this adds anything.
To balance it out I’ll add that it is incredible when two creatures -that forked so long ago on the evolutionary time line- can come together in a mutually beneficial relationship.

So having read all the comments, I have to say that I saw very little of the supposed message being sent to us by these two creatures actually present in those commenting.

1) The administrator threatens censorship when someone chooses to have a bit of fun.

2) Death threats or wishes of impending death are meted out to two people who happen to not be touched by the above pictures, leading to:

3) Conformity demanded by all who consider the pictures to be sweet.

Are we allowed freedom of speech or not? Right now it looks like my freedom of speech is only respected if I agree with everyone who finds these pictures to be sweet or cute. If I dare suggest otherwise then I suspect I will be shouted down, told I am worthless, and told I might as well be dead by the very people who consider these two animals to be sending us a message of respect and tolerance for all life. Contradictory or not – discuss.

aww so cute, why do those idiots who think they can make nasty comments on owen and mzee have to spoil the fun for everyone. these ARE Gods beautiful creatures no matter what some moron with a computer thinks.
and to the blog owner: beautiful photos, thanks for sharing!